Final Fantasy XIV Producer Talks Future of Game

Naoki Yoshida is dedicated to making Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn everything the fans expected from 1.0 and more. He gave tons of info on the upcoming ARR last week’s Letter from the Producer stream, which is now on Youtube in its two hour long glory.

Naoki Yoshida is dedicated to making Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn everything the fans expected from 1.0 and more. He gave tons of info on the upcoming ARR last week’s Letter from the Producer stream, which is now on Youtube in its two hour long glory.

If you don’t have the time to check out the whole video, here are some points of interest it covers in convenient and super compressed bullet point format!

Coeurl mount incoming

Increased drop rates in comparison to 1.0

Ability to “need” gear implemented, will be limited per week per piece of content

“Full Active Time Events” — world events, or just easier named mob killing? Yoshida describes it himself: “For example, an NM pops. A notification of this is sent to all players in the zone, who then converge on the NM. Parties are automatically formed, and a battle begins. The NM is defeated, rewards are doled out, and the players go their separate ways.“

Materia balancing, possible materia system simplification

Main attributes for all classes being adjusted, monk being reworked

Housing is going to be expensive to the point where players will have to buy one together. (Check out 0:45:55 of the video for a look at housing and an in-depth explanantion of the housing system.)

Voice acting language can be changed based on preference

Viera race possibly coming in a future expansion

Expect a global alpha test soon!

Marriage system being implemented, same-sex marriage under deliberation

The above points are, of course, not all. You’ll have to check out the video or the post on the official forums covering all of the questions and answers thrown around.

Yoshida claims they are still behind schedule — over two months behind schedule, in fact. While the alpha is coming soon, the beta testing phase won’t begin until January or February 2013.

The more information on Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, the better it looks. Yoshida says he wants his game to be able to compete with the big MMOs today like RIFT and Guild Wars 2. Will it be able to? With the significant improvements coming with ARR, it just may be possible.